Gay Sex in the 70s

The 1970s have a special place in gay men’s affections. Post-Stonewall and pre-Aids, this was the decade when gay sexuality came out of the closet as men explored new, more adventurous ways of fulfilling their desires. Nowhere was this more evident than in New York.

This documentary about this excessive decade boasts some great contributors, from photographer Tom Bianchi to Aids activist Larry Kramer. There’s some extraordinary footage too. Sunny tales of Fire Island are contrasted with darker accounts of the bars and baths satirised by Kramer in his novel ‘Faggots’. As you’d expect, there’s a lot of death. One man describes going to a party with his lover, only to find it full of gorgeous men and realising he’d been invited to an orgy. His lover forced him to leave, which angered him, though later he was grateful. Within two years every man who stayed was dead.